Cicadas' Chirp Could Cause Hearing Damage, Professor Says

Cicadas don't bite or string, but that doesn't mean they can't bug your ears.

The insect, which emerges from its underground habitat once every 13 years to shed it's shell, has a hiss so loud that one university professor is warning Tennessee locals about the potential hearing damage the cicada chirping can cause.

"They're in the neighborhood of 90 decibels or above, if you get real close to them," Todd Ricketts, associate professor of hearing and speech at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn, recently told WSMV Nashville.

"Annoying, irritating and you have to shout to talk over them," said Ricketts.

According to Rickets' measurements, the cicadas on the Vanderbilt campus in Nashville, Tenn., measured at roughly 86 decibles. 85 decibles is the volume where the threat of hearing damage begins, and federal work standards stipulate that sounds exceeding that level should not be heard for more than a four hour period.

Depending on proximity, the cicadas' hiss stacks up to a 85 decibel bustle of heavy city traffic, a 90 decibel hum of a lawnmower or a 95 decibel rumble of a New York City subway train.

And good luck avoiding them. Nancy Hinkle, a University of Georgia entomologist managing Georgia's first statewide study on periodical cicadas says there are "bazillions."

"There are at least tens of millions if not hundreds of millions. There are people who claim they have millions in their own backyards."

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Comments

[Wolf Wolfenstein]

08:16 AM on 05/28/2011

rather listen to them than these boom cars the illegals drive all over town

[Lolotehe]

12:36 PM on 05/27/2011

"The insect, which emerges from its underground habitat once every 13 years to shed it's shell..."

To shed it is shell?

[nevikk]

11:57 AM on 05/27/2011

I would like to respectfully submit a correction:
Cicadas DO NOT bite! They are very slow-moving, passive, sluggish insect, they come up out of the ground every 17 years en masse, and they climb up the sides of trees, etc. their backs split open and out emerges a beautiful, colorful creature with eyes that resemble jewels.

[nevikk]

11:54 AM on 05/27/2011

I would like to respectfully submit the following correction:
The cicadas emerge every 17 years, not every 13 years, as is written in the article

[raptureready1958]

10:40 AM on 05/27/2011

Who ever said that the Cicadas does not bit is wrong. They bite and they bite quite hard. I've been bitten by them and it brings up a welt and hurts like a wasp. I can't mow my lawn without being attacked by them. It's as if they are attracted to sound waves or something.

[nevikk]

12:00 PM on 05/27/2011

Cicadas do not bite! They come out of the ground every 17 years, en masse, climb up a tree, and their back splits open and out emerges a beautiful, colorful but slow-moving and clumbsy insect with beautiful jewel-like eyes.But they do NOT bite!

[afeed10]

02:13 AM on 06/07/2011

Some do come out every 13 years, it depends on the species. The 13 year ones live in the south. And they don't literally bite (they don't have teeth), but they can cause significant pain by attempting to stick their proboscis in you.

[wbwbruce]

10:17 PM on 05/26/2011

So can listening to Sara Palin for 5 min.

[Coinyer101]

09:42 PM on 05/26/2011

What a steamy load....., [I love cicadas and the songs they sing]

[jokamachi]

08:30 PM on 05/26/2011

It can also cause long bouts of meditative thought.

[mistlesuede]

11:01 PM on 05/26/2011

Very good.

[dogspeed]

08:28 PM on 05/26/2011

So can rock music. Who cares.

[Talullah Bankhead]

08:25 PM on 05/26/2011

There has to be a law in Tennessee. Those cicadas just scream, "gay, gay, gay" all day and night.

[Tom Joad]

07:54 PM on 05/26/2011

...huh?...

[edgarcaycedoc]

07:52 PM on 05/26/2011

I don't have to listen to cicadas only once every thirteen years. I carry my own in my head. It is a gift from Uncle Sam. They call it "artillery ear," and while I was not exposed to that many artillery missions, I am left thinking that the constant weapons fire from the M-16, or the .38, or the .45 is what actually caused it.

[madbidder]

10:05 PM on 05/28/2011

My husband has the same problem. He was on an aircraft carrier in Vietnam and says he hears crickets and cicadas 24/7. It bums him out.
I feel for you!

[edgarcaycedoc]

03:46 PM on 05/29/2011

Aircraft carrier?? I have heard horror stories about how those things harm your hearing--even with ear protection.

[MochaLite]

07:10 PM on 05/26/2011

Oh yeah. People who spend 18 hours a day listening to tv, music, comp games, cellphones, not to mention concerts are going to have their hearing damaged by cicadas because they "get real close to them."

The only thing this article proves is how hard it is to find research topics in Speech & Hearing for the publish-or-perish game.

[Jced]

07:01 PM on 05/26/2011

They are awful here in Florida, sometimes you have to just stay indoors!

[moderndaywarrior]

06:38 PM on 05/26/2011

I recall most of all the sound the cicadas made. Ah, the lusty days of youth in summertime.